Wednesday, April 14, 2010

UDON Very Happy With Mega Man Megamix Sales

"We're very happy with the Megamix sales, definitely one of our better selling mangas," says UDON Entertainment's managing editor Matt Moylan. "The real test will be Mega Man ZX, to see how a less popular Mega Man franchise sells."

Good to hear, especially since one of the major hurdles preventing the book from releasing years back was a concern over market performance.  I'm not too concerned about ZX as the series in particular does have quite a following, but I can see where Matt's coming from on that one.

If all goes well with both books, perhaps we'll see even more Mega Man products for UDON in the future.

via The Mega Man Community

20 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear it. Hopefully, this'll increase the chances of an actual anime series based on classic Mega Man. That, I'd LOVE to see.

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  2. Still hoping for translated Shooting Star Official Complete Works. -_-

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  3. YES! This is great news! Here's hoping ZX1 will be a lot easier to find than this one, though. I looked for a month for MegaMix1.

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  4. ZX is going to be a real test indeed. How did it do in Japan, anyways?

    If anyone ever wanted to make another attempt at convincing Capcom to make another ZX game, now's your chance.

    I really wouldn't get my hopes up though.

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    @Krazy: Crackpot insane troll logic time: Didn't we sort of already have one, in the form of the cartoon? >_>

    *ducks under the hail of bullets*

    Slightly more serious answer: I could have sworn there were special episodes of some sort for Classic Rockman in Japan. I forget what they were called though. Something once upon a star?

    I know I saw a fansubbed Classic-related anime clip of sorts a few months ago. *shrugs*

    ...Unless, you already knew about the one I'm referring to, and are really asking for a full-blown series rather than a few video clips.

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    @Saito: Unlikely that UDON can do anything with Star Force or EXE. Or just EXE.

    I think one of the threads at The Megaman Network has an explanation along the lines of 'lots of other companies have some sort of say in EXE and Star Force merchandise, to the point where bringing anything related to those two overseas is probably going to be a struggle.'

    Still hopeful that at least EXE OCW gets translated. At the moment, I have no hopes on anything else, not even the Battle Story manga.

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  5. @Alilatias:

    Are you talking about the Ruby Spears cartoon? I'll admit, I liked that cartoon, but it got cancelled a bit too quickly. There's also the issue of it not being entirely true to the games. I might have been the localization errors that caused most of it, but I'm sure that's not the case, when they had Proto Man being portrayed as a villain. Sure, he fought against Mega Man several times in Mega Man 3, but it had already been established in Mega Man 3's ending, Mega Man 4, and Mega Man 5 that he wasn't a villain. In fact, if I remember correctly, the Dark Man robots (including the one that impersonated him) were actually included in the cartoon.

    Oh, and yeah, I'm aware of the anime clip, but I'm talking about a full-blown series; one that's a lot more truer to the games, and everything. Again, I didn't hate the Ruby Spears cartoon, but there was definitely room for improvement.

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  6. It's just to bad the manga itself was awful. ZERO pacing, art work sucked, and they blow by him fighting proto and the mm3 robots to have a yellow devil meet it's mommy.

    Really WTF udon.

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  7. @Krazy: Bass didn't exist at the time, so they needed a rival to make the series more interesting.

    Anyways, I'm curious about something (because attempting research only confuses me). Ariga released a MegaMix and a MegaMix R2. From what I believe, R2 is a redrawing of the original MegaMix with better quality. Is the Udon translated one R1 or R2?

    I really want to buy these, but I think I'll wait on a special deal of sort containing all of them. Every time I get an OCW, the price usually drops. As much as I want to support Ariga and Udon, I have a finite amount of money.

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  8. I mean, it's classic Mega Man; didn't have much of a story to begin with, and is considered "classic".

    Or pimp. Pardon my French.

    So no doubt this will sell. I'd be hesitant to expect high sales out of the X and ZX mangas, though, just because they already had so much story (comparatively), and was "filling" enough.se

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  9. yay~
    I'm still waiting for my copy of megamix (darn Australia's slowness T^T)
    and I already ordered ZX, since I really liked the game and I love the manga artwork.
    hope they translate more Rockman material

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  10. @Krazy Monkey: Talking about cartoons, i´ve gotta say Ruby Spears cartoon was WAY better than that lame "you know which one i´m referring to" endorsed by Coca-Cola Corp.

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  11. @Shayne

    While you're entitled to your opinion, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on all points there. I think Hitoshi Ariga's art is really refreshing, and the pacing is more focused on character development. But different strokes for different folks.

    What is it about the art you didn't like, out of curiosity?

    Also he covers the /actual/ MM3 story in Gigamix 1.

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  12. @Soultrigger: I recall UDON saying that they were using newer art. If I had to guess I'd say it was the R2 version.

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  13. @Dark-Black-Wings: If you live in Adelaide, you can get it from either Shin Tokyo or Pulp Fiction Comics.

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  14. well in this case, i think we can already assume that the other Ariga works will also be well received, and all we really have to worry about now, is ZX. the little ive seen of it is very well done, (at least it isnt the Zero mangas)and after all is said and done, we just MIGHT get ourselves a Megaman X manga stateside! *crosses fingers* seriously, as long as the possibility exists that udon will "consider it" depending on the other mangas' sales, I can sure as hell wait!

    also, nay- Megamix here I believe uses the original art. it would have taken too long to wait for the licensing of the newer art. however, consider that the first megamix, is also a redrw of the classic megaman stories featred in Remix, which was the first Ariga megaman work.
    so it would be Remix-> Megamix-> Megamix R2

    Udon is using "Megamix"

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  15. "If all goes well with both books, perhaps we'll see even more Mega Man products for UDON in the future."

    Like picking up the Megaman X comic book that died from Dreamwave and making Spaz draw it again? 8D .. Eh? ... Eh?

    *crickets*

    You all suck X(

    In all seriousness though I'd like to see it, just.. without the time traveling plot. I worship Spaz's artwork and he got the X style down pat for the comic. Yes, the Classic comic was lacking, but I think if handed off to the right people it could be awesome.

    Amazon keeps pushing ZX and #2 of the Megamix back. *shakes fists of annoyance*

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  16. @Soultrigger:

    Ah, yeah. That is true, isn't it? Perhaps if the series had lasted a little longer, then Bass would have made his way into the show somehow, along with Treble. After all, they DID add a few characters from the X series, such as Mega Man X, Sigma, Vile, and Spark Mandrill.

    @kotipeltox:

    Actually, no. Sorry, but I'm not sure which one it is you're referring to.

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  17. @Tcat


    Call me strange, but I actually LIKED that DreamWave Megaman comic series, even the classic Megaman one.

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  18. I know I've got the other two Megamixes pre-ordered. Would love to see the X ones.

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  19. I'm not happy with the sales, I can't find one to buy for myself. I so want this.

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  20. Hmm. For anyone who is misunderstood (and it seems there are a lot of you here that are) about the prospects of the Battle Network and Star Force Official Complete Works coming to the US, please refer to this quote by Matt Moylan from UDON in a recent interview:

    “Also, not ready to announce future art book dates yet, but if fans like the STARs on their favorite television NETWORKs to speak English then, they’d be advised to wait a bit before buying certain Japanese versions of art books. ;)”

    Having adapted the Classic, X, and Zero Official Complete Works, I'd love to spell it out for you, but I don't think I can officially. Really, though, do I need to? If I were an EXE and/or Ryuusei fan (and I am, of both), I'd be pretty excited after reading that quote. And boy, it would be even more exciting if I got to adapt those books too!

    Hint: I'm excited. ;)

    Also, I'm very glad to see Megamix 1 is doing so well. I'm happy you're all liking it. :) Personally, I love Ariga's interpretation of the Mega Man universe, from the art to the decidedly darker tone than what is seen in the games. It's awesome.

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